The Owl

Torontos cold weather in the winter season always got me craving something hot! Can to this Korean place because it was suggested by family to try the «pork bone soup».
I ordered 2 dishes the pork bone soup and the seafood tofu soup. The pork bone soup was not bad the meat just came off the bone and you can tell that it has been slow cooking for more than a day, it was seasoned well and spice level was just right. The seafood tofu soup looked spicy but the bite did not do justice as it wasn’t as spicy as it looked.
The atmosphere needs a little work because the tables and furniture and chairs looked outdated. I would def come back for the soup though!

I shared the dolsot bibimbap and japchae with the hubby. The bibimbap was spot on, with brown rice option. Japchae was really good until you are half way through the dish. It became very salty and overly flavourful. Glad we shared it, otherwise it would’ve been too much. Their complimentary green tea is very nice, very authentic Korean.

one of my favourite restaurants from the owl chain. they are like 100 times better than the richmond hill location. their food is flavourful, the waitresses are quite nice and they have more variety in their banchans (side dishes which is a hell yer)
i usually like to order some kind of soup (pork bone soup is rly good). i tried their spicy cold noodle and it was alight. i usually like to order samgyupsal (pork belly) but they won’t allow you to grill it anymore if you just ordered one plate which i feel is pretty dumb. you would have to order at least two plates to grill it yourself –_​– ($ 17.99 each)
but yeah, rly good Korean food y’all should give it a try

Typical Korean food in Chinatown. There is a large selection on their menu — noodles, appetizers, soups, stews, rice, etc. The prices are definitely very reasonable/​cheap. I got a bowl of soup with rice cake, wontons, and beef slices for $ 9.99. Food was seasoned well — not too salty. If you aren’t a fan of spicy food, do be forewarned that around 80% of the menu is spicy! Good range of «appetizer» dishes with cucumber, radishes, bean sprouts, kimchi and more. Service was good overall, and the environment was nice, apart from the fact that the TV’s were always playing live music concerts of Korean artists, so there wasn’t much to see there.
Our table of 4 went for dinner on a Thursday night, and at any given point in the night, there were at most 5 tables there, so it should be relatively easy to find a spot there weeknights. They do only take cash and debit for transactions over $ 20.

I just love this place, worth a visit when you are in Toronto. The food are authentic and warm you up.

Awesome food, and they even have nice ladies dancing on the TVs. I like.

I swear this place was 24h…
Anyway, I had the classic pork bone soup, but I was really disappointed in the meal. There was literally nothing else in the soup except three chunks of pork bone and one small potato. Where are the vegetables?
They call the rice brown, but it looked mostly like white rice with a small handful of something multigrain to make it change colour.
Lastly, it was super expensive. After tax and tip for one meal was $ 12. Okay, not absolutely expensive, but relatively expensive for Korean food. For a Korean soup dish, $ 7 – 8 is the average price. And at other restaurants, those soup dishes include vegetables.

They have the most flavored pork bone soup in town, others all have kind of clear style soup but I prefer my soup have some kind of thickening over slow cooking. Side dish is just ok but the peanut is by far the most unique side dish in town.(actually that’s what keep me coming every time)

Me and my boyfriend usually go to the Waterloo branch and I definitely prefer this location over the one in Waterloo. There is a wider selection of food, the food is tastier and they serve brown rice (which is healthier!). Our server was great. She was friendly and asked if we wanted more side dishes (not a lot of Korean restaurants do that). The price is rather normal for the food served.
I would come back here again. I recommend the tofu kimchi (stir-​fried with pork and kimchi). It is one my favorite dishes at Owl’s.

We came here on a snow day and it was pretty empty inside so service was prompt. Compared to other korean restaurants, I would say this place is average, nothing really puts it above any other korean restaurant you can find.

What can I say about this place. It’s the worst of all the locations I have been to.
Food was not on par as well as felt that it was more expensive than the other locations.
On the plus side service was better.

I went here tonight for dinner service with my girlfriend. I have been to an Owl restaurant previously (@ Waterloo), and I have to say that tonight’s service was better than the previous occasion.
We ordered the seafood pancake and the pork and sausage hotpot. The food was quickly served but tasted extremely delicious. The banchan was also delightful.

I went here last night around 1am (slim pickings if you’re craving Korean food after 11pm). I did NOT want to come here because I haven’t had great food at the other locations (Shouldn’t the Koreatown location have the best??? I went to the one on bloor late at night as well) but alas, my friends and I needed some spicy Korean food in our bellies.
My friend and I ordered the chapjae and kimchi jeon. DELICIOUS! I was even more surprised by the banchan: pickled cucumbers, kimchi, radish kimchi, seaweed salad, bean sprouts, fried potatoes. Everything was amazing. The kimchi pancake was nice and crispy and the only thing I would say about it is that it didn’t come with a dipping sauce! I was a bit shocked but can live without it. The chapjae was really, really well done. Probably one of the best I’ve had actually. I asked for the veggie one but it did have small pieces of meat inside, it wasn’t a bit issue with me especially since I was sharing with a meat eater –I just picked them out. Serious high five to the cooks!
The service was GREAT. Our server was a lady who was very bubbly, always had a smile on her face. The manager (I’m assuming, older guy), brought us some of our food and asked how everything was, if we enjoyed the food. etc I’ve never been checked up on at a Kfood place.
Bathroom was nicely decorated and CLEAN. I always check out the bathroom because I feel like that says a lot about the cleanliness of a place.
Don’t let the outside/​the fact that it’s in the Dragon City Mall fool you. It’s a great place!

Friendly service, nice atmosphere and decent pricing for Korean food.
The food here is good, communication with the server can be tricky, but I love the chap chay and the Kalbi tang. The bulgogi is all right… I find the owl on bloor better. Their broth taste nicer.
Came here for a quick eat and that’s what I got!

It seems my udpate from the day after I went has been deleted!!!
I got food poisoning all nite long and the following day after I went there!!! I wrote that almost right away to edit my first impression (once I felt better…)
Forget about the food in this place being good!!! It may taste good but can be harmful! I never went back there and never will! ever never, even if you pay me!
If my update is deleted again, I will simply remove this review from my account!!!

Ordered pork bone soup ($ 7.99), which I believe their special dish. I have been to their restaurant in North York and they served exactly same pork bone soup here. Piping hot soup and large portion of pork bone. When you order a dish here, they serve a bowl of rice and lots (six, if I remember correctly) of side dishes including kimchi.
They accept only cash and debit (over $ 20).

Pork bone soup!
Okay, so I didn’t have pork bone soup here since I’m trying to cut down on unhealthy food (but it’s sooo delicious), but I did have it at another Owl location. Some of my co-​workers ordered it and can attest to its deliciousness.
The waitresses are super busy and will run to get items, but at the expense of ignoring you when you ask to order or when you ask to get the bill. This is the only reason why it gets 3 instead of 4 stars. The food is great. I ordered the dolsot bibimbap (labeled hot stone bowl, $ 7 lunch special) and it met my expectations. I was supposed to get a pop with the lunch special, according to the menu, but didn’t. We ordered one bibimbap to go and it came with a pop (and the usual appetizers, like kimchi).
For those who paid attention, yes I think tea and beef on rice is healthier than pork bone soup :)
Update:
I came back for the pork bone soup and was sufficiently unimpressed. There just wasn’t a lot of meat, which is really the only reason to get it.

The Pork Bone Soup is as good as everyone says it is. Large pieces of pork bone and potato were submerged in a spicy broth served with a bowl of rice. Don’t forget to suck the marrow-​y bits out of the bone!
The other dishes we had weren’t as good. The Cold Spicy Noodles were forgettable, and the Cold Noodles in Ginseng and Soy Soup sounded great, but didn’t taste like ginseng or soy– more like noodles in watery skim milk.
Service was friendly. The banchan is complimentary and refilled upon request, but they no longer serve the yogurt drink for dessert– although, the free wi-​fi inside Dragon City Mall makes up for that!

This is the 2^nd Owl Of Minerva I have visited. So I am a bit biased as I liked the food on the one location up on Korea Town. So although I found this location far more restaurant-​like, I have to say I found the food at the other Minerva to be a bit better.
Either way, as most people now know, you do not come to places like Owl of Minerva for the decour, otherwise you will be very much disappointed.
Now why the low rating? Well, the quality of the pork was by far the worst I have had and I have had a lot. The biggest issue was the pork was undercooked. Not that it was raw, but the meat has/​should come off the bone in properly prepared PBS. However on both soups that got ordered we had to literally had to struggle to get to our meat. Which means the soup was rushed and toss to customers way before it was done. That is just badly made pork bone soup. Period. Specially for a place that specifically prides itself in its PBS? There is no going around it. Badly played.
I was really disappointed. Now, having said that I might be back again if other restaurants are busy or it is raining or there is a flood and I need to get to high ground and enjoy a pork bone soup after I have climbed my way up.
Sadly, I won’t be coming back to this place in the nearby future..

After happy hour Karaōke, this was a nice place to come eat and not have to brave the cold winds outside the mall.
They’ve expanded the last time I’ve been here, and the open space is nice.
We were greeted by the owner and he was very friendly.
They don’t just serve Pork Bone Soup here. There’s also BimBimbap and Bulgoli, Japchae with rice ($ 8.99), Ramuen, Handmade Noodles, and Korean BBQ.
Lots of fixings also comes with your meal.
Today I had a hearty Pork Bone Soup which was so filling and yummy.